Manitowoc author publishes Civil War book

Emilie E. Luebke, dressed in Civil War era clothing and holding shaving tools used during the war. Luebke recently published a book about the Civil War with local ties to Manitowoc County.(Photo: Alyssa Bloechl/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)Buy Photo

MANITOWOC - As a member of the Civil War Round Table and Historical Society of Manitowoc County, Emilie Luebke has learned a lot of interesting things about local history. She has also heard some interesting stories. So interesting to her, she wrote and published the stories that were told to her.

Leubke recently published the book “Five Manitowoc Forefathers in the Civil War,” featuring five unique stories learned from local historians, and one straight from her family lineage.

Contributing storytellers include Roy Luebke, Marion Stock and Gerald Neuser, but the book was revised and organized by Emilie. She had started her story, and felt it was not long enough to publish a book, so she started talking to her friends in the Civil War Round Table of Manitowoc County to find leads.

Roy Luebke and Gerald Neuser look over a document signed by President Abraham Lincoln and other Civil War ear memorabilia.(Photo: Alyssa Bloechl/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

The book, published by Zander Press Incorporated of Brillion, has been available for purchase since July.

A public open house and book-signing will be from 1 to 5 p.m., Sept. 25, at Twin Fountains Banquet and Catering. Displays of the Civil War and other wars will be displayed.

Considering it has been just more than 150 years since the end of the Civil War, Leubke was determined to get the stories about both Union and Confederate soldiers she had learned about published.

“The point was to get the stories out there and available for the public, or they will be lost and gone forever,” Leubke said.

Leubke wrote about her great-grandfather, Pvt. August Gauger of the Wisconsin 11th infantry division. The stories about him came directly from her mother Erna, who frequently told stories about August.

Roy Luebke wrote two stories about two of his relatives for the book, which were edited and organized by Emilie. One is about his great-grandfather, Pvt. Augustus Schreiber, and the other about great-great grandfather Pvt. David Schneider, whose daughter was involved in an 1873 Jesse James train robbery.

“I got into learning my family’s genealogy back in the '70s, and one thing led to another,” Roy Luebke said. “I came to learn that someone in my family has served in the armed forces from the Civil War to the present.”

Marion Stock, who passed away shortly before the book was published, told Luebke the story of her great grandfather Pvt. Joseph Jachimstal, who was wounded in the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia as on of 17,000 casualties.

“Part of the story is about how Joseph met, and fell in love with his wife all within a six-week boat trip,” Luebke said. “I really would have loved for her to have seen the book and her contribution.”

Gerald Neuser compiled a story about Pvt. Henry Free, whose son Frederick Free had given an important document, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, to Neuser’s mother.

“I’d always been interested in history, but it wasn’t until I found out about the document, in which the president asks for volunteers to serve for 100 days,” Neuser said.

Compiling the book took two years, and now Luebke is looking to possibly start writing books about the Korean and Vietnam wars.

“We have preserved history that would have been lost to the country,” Luebke said.

Emilie got interested in writing factual and historical stories when she worked as a nurse’s aid and activities director at the former North Ridge Nursing Home. She had began conversations with people living there, and ended up learning more than she could have imagined about war.

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Emilie E. Luebke holds all three of her historical published works.(Photo: Alyssa Bloechl/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

The two other books, “Worse Than Battle” and “Five Feet to the Gates of Hell,” are about World War I and World War II, respectively. "Worse Than Battle" is a tale told by Emilie’s father-in-law, Sgt. F. Leubke of Manitowoc, who fought in France.

The WWII book is a memoir of Corporal Mark E. Peterik, who served in the Battle of Saipan. This book also has a place in the Library of Congress, as historical facts. Both books can be purchased on www.amazon.com.